RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE M, EB, CHURCH 
SOUTH 


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A CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 


HLASBORO DISTRICT CONFERENCE, 


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—IN— 


PoAPELAHTLL, 
By REV. Ww. Ez. MOORE, | 


AUGUST A. D. 1876. 


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PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CONFERENCE. 


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D. W. WHITAKER, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, DURHAM, N, C., 
1876. 


RISE AND PROGRESS 


OF THE 


M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. 


There are seasons In which special themes are both pleas- 

i I 
ant and profitable. We delight to dwell upon the pasi, trace 
the path we have trod, mark the strokes by which we have 
achieved success, where the success has been a signal one; 
or sean the causes of defeat if we have failed in our high 
fo) 
endeavor. 

As a religious movement Methodism is the greatest success 
of the past century. No Church since the days of the Apos- 
tles, has in so short a time, and against such odds, won so 

d b to) b 

much of power over men as she; and it is peculiarly appro- 
priate on this Centennial Anniversary that we should review 
the past, and standing amid the grand achievements of the 
century gone, while we look on and admire her granduer and 
beauty, adore the wisdom and elorify the grace of Him who 
y> J 
hath “crowned us with his loving kindness and tender 
mercies.” 


“THE M. E., CHURCH SOUTH; ITS RISE AND PROGRESS,” 


is our theme—a theme with which every Methodist should 
be familiar, and, to which familiarity, we cordially invite and 
affectionately urge our brethren of other denominations 
throughout the land. We have nothing to loose, but every- 
thing to gain, from an acquaintance with our history. An 
address on the subject announced necessitates a reference to 
the origin of that form of christianity which has been denom- 


bs 2 


4 
inated Methodism, and by which it is distinguished from those 
churches which existed at its birth, or have arisen since, for 
the history of the M. E., Church South, must ever be incom- 
plete—fragmentary—when considered in isolation from 
Methodism in general. 

Methodism was not born in a cellar, garrett, or hovel; but 
breathed her infant life within the walls of Oxford College. 
Those who introduced her to the world were not ignorant 
enthusiasts, but men of cultivated minds, and consecrated 
souls, burning with a holy zeal for the glory of God and the 
salvation of men. The brief account of the rise of Method- 
ism prefixed to some of our older Disciplines says: “In 1729, 
two young men in England, reading the Bible, saw they could 
not be saved without holiness; followed after it, and incited 
others so to do. In 1737, they saw, likewise, that men are 
justified before they are sanctified, but still holiness was 
their object. God then thrust them out to raise a holy peo- 
ple.” ‘The churches were shut against them, and they entered 
the open fields. No dangers could daunt, or perils intimi- 
date these men, who went forth realizing that they had a 
Divine commission to preach Christ crucified to a perishing 
world. God “confirmed their word by signs following.” Sin- 
ners were awakened, penifents were converted, and believers 
were san¢tified. Slumbering churches were, at length, awaked 
to life and activity. In 1766, about 29 years after John and 
Charles Wesley were thrust out to preach the gospel, Philip 
Embury, a local Preacher from Ireland, began to preach in 
the city of New York, and formed a society of his own coun- 
trymen and the citizens; and the same year Thomas Webb 
preached in a hired room near the barracks. The first Meth- 
odist church built in America was erected in 1768, and ’69, 
which site is to-day covered by the John Street, M. EH. Church. 
The first regular Methodist preachers on this continent were 
Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore, who came to New 
York in 1769, and were followed by Francis Asbury and 
Richard Wright, in 1771. By their zealous labors the socie- 
ties multiplied continously, notwithstanding the war in which 
the colonies were involved with the mother country. The 


5 


tormination ef the war was favorable to the colonies. Eng- 
land acknowledged them independent of the crown, and when 
she withdrew her armies they were followed by most of the 
Ministers of the Church of England j they be- 
ing Englishmen and in sympathy with the Royal cause. ‘The 
Methodist Societies had depended on these Ministers for the 
sacraments, and were now left as sheep without a shepherd. 
In many localities there were none to baptize their children, 
or give to those of riper years, the sacrament of the Lord’s 
Supper. Wesley had long rejected the claim set ae by his 
church for Bishops as a th: rd order of the ministry ; he said 
he knew the apostolic succession to be “a rope of sand,” and 
that he believed himself a seriptual Hpiscopos, or Bishop, as 
much so as any manin England. But, notwithstanding these 
convictions, he had eaaly refused to ordain any for his so- 
cieties, either in England or America, because by an act of 
Parliament, Pre esby tors in the Established Church were for- 
bidden to exercise the right of ordination. However, when 
the colonies became independent of the British crown, Wes- 
ley’s scruples were at an end. The civil law no longer stood 
in his way, and after he had endeavored in vain to get the 
Bishop of London to ordain even one man to meet the wants 
of his societies here, he ordained Dr. Coke to be a Superin- 
tendent, and Thos. Vassey and R. Whatcoate to be Elders, or 
Presbyters, with instructions to consecrate Francis Asbury 
to be a joint Superintendent with Dr. Coke. 

Dy. Coke sailed for America socn after his ordination to be 
a Bishop in the Methodist church. A Conference of Preach- 
evs was held in the city of Baltimore in December 1784. 
That Conference ratified Mr. Wesley’s action and erected 
themselves into an ecclesiastical organization, separate and 
distinct from all existing ones, under the title of 


THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AMERICA. 


Those who adhered to the Established Church, as it existed 
before the Revolution, being, by an act of Parliament, crea- 
ted into a separate church under the title of the Protestant 
- Episcopal Church, about six years later, that is 1790. 


6 
The status of Methodism was now changed. From merely 
religious societies in connecticn with the Established Church * 
they now become a church themselves. The action of Mr. 
Wesley, and of the Conference in Baitimore, was i ae 
criticized by the adherents of the Established Chureh. 
Methodist ordinations were declared invalid, and the church 
denounced as a schism in the body of Christ. The storm 
thus raised, for a time, threatened to engulf the bark which 
rad been lauched on the ecclesiastical sea, but she weathered 


7 


the cale and beeame the favorite transport of thos seeking 


a p1331ge from 3arthto heaven. God’s blessing rested on the 
church thus founded, and she marched onward to a suecess 
unparalelled in the annals of ecclesiastical history. 

But, she had searcely escaped the lions from without, ere 
she was beset by vultures from within. Wuaberforce and 
others, at this time, were agitating with untiring zea! the 
abolition of slavery thrash the British dominions. The 
institution existed in several of the States, forming the United 
States of America, and through Enelish ‘atone! the ques- 
ticn was mooted here. In this country, as ‘n England, the 
question became a ont as well as a political one, and the 
Methodists here following the lead of those in the mother 
Cues began to legislate on the subject. Slavery was de- 
clared to be an evil, ioe ministers and official members pro- 
hibited from beeomin ig slave owners on pain of forfeiting their 
position in the church. In all the legislation on this subject 
the North and West were the aggressors; the South occupy- 
ing the position of remonstrants. ‘The Southern portion of 
the church declared slavery to be a civil institution, and there- 
fore, beyond the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts; that 
slavery was recognized in the Bible, and directions given to 
both master and slave for the government of their conduct. 

But the tide of fanaticism had set in upon the country, and 
it continued to rise with a steady pace. Petitions for the aboli- 
tion of the institution weré poured in upon Congress, while 
Wendell Philips, Garretson, Charles Sumner, and others, 
through whom these petitions were circulated, denounced the 
constitution under which slavery was recognized and the slave 


7 

owner protected in his right of property, as “a league with 
hell and a covenant with death.” The conflict between the 
slave, and non-slaveholding sections of the country, grew 
fiercer each succeeding year, anda rupture in the govern- 
ment—a dismemberment of the Union, seemingly inevitable ; 
but mainly through the influence and eloquence of Henry 
Clay, of Kentucky, a compromise measure was at length 
agreed to, which was known as the Missourt Compromise. 
A compromise which was purely a measure for peace and 
which confined slavery to the teritory south of Mason’s and 
Dixon's line. The peace, however, was only transient—‘ 
the morning cloud and the early dew which goeth away.” 
The controversy was revived with greater bitternes than ever, 
and finally terminated in the election of A. Lincoln tc the 
Presidency of the United States, and the secession of the 
slaveholding States from the Union, with the exception of 
Maryland and Deleware, Missouri and Kentucky. 

The church in this matter kept in advance of the State; 
the moral aspect of the question took preceedence of the po- 
litical; and the Methodist church, by reason of its conven- 
tional character was the first to feel the shock, and be dis- 
membered by it. In the State it was a question of politics, 
in the church a question of morals, and the conflict in the lat- 
ter, if not so bristrous and violent, was more determined than 
in the former. As early as 1815 the question had assured 
such proportions in the Annual and General Conferences as 
to call for the enacting by the General Conference of that 
year of a Compromise-law, which law declared slaveholders 
ineligible to any offiicial station in the church, where the laws 
of the State in which they lived would adinit of emancipation, and 
permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom. From 1816 to 1844 
that law gave satisfaction to the church North and South, 
and with a few exceptional cases an undisturbed peace and 
quietness reigned throughout the churches Jimits. Indeed 
the church had not enjoyed more prosperity at any period 
than that between the General Conference of 1840, and 1844. 
The only trouble now experienced was caused by a few tru- 
bulent men along the dividing line, between the slave and 


as 


8 


non-slaveholding Ssates, and that was merely local in its 
character; but the General Conference of 1840, it would seem 
from its action in regard to the case of some Local Preachers 
from Westmoreland county, Va., was determined to put the mat- 
ter at rest in every community throughout its jurisdiction. 
These Local Preachers, though living in Virginia, were in the 
jurisdiction of the Baltimore Conference, and desired to be 
ordained to the ministry of the church. The Baltimore Con- 
ference refused to elect them to orders saying: “We will 
not ordain you, because you hold slaves.” The Preachers 
appealed to the General Conference, held in Baltimore in 
1849, and asked that their rights under the law of the church, 
(ths compromise-law of 1315,) should be vindicated and the 
issue as between them and the Baltimore Conference. 
An able committee was appointed with Dr. (afterwards Bish- 
op) ie as chairman to whom the matter was referred. 
The committee reported in favor of the Local Preachers ana 
prese cnkcd the following resolution for adoption which wa 
passed : 

‘“ Resolved, That under the provisional ex coption of the een- 
eral rule of the church on the subject of slavery, the simple 
holding of slaves, or mere owncrship of slave ae by, in 
States or Territories where the laws do not adimit of 
emancipation, and permit the liberated slave to enjoy free- 
dom, constitutes no legal barrier to the election or ordina- 
tion of ministers to the various grades of office known in the 
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and cannot, 
therefore, be considered as operating any forfeiture of right 
in view of such election or ordination.” 


Notwithstanding this action of the General Conference, 
which plainly declared that, the holding of slaves in those 
States where they could not be legally manumitted, was no 
bar to official, or ministerial position, the Baltimore Annual 
Conference suspended from the exercise of his ministeral of- 
fice the Rev. Francis A. Harding, a member of that body, 
who by marriage had become connected with slavery, his 
wife being the owner of several slaves at the time of their 
marriage. Mr. Harding plead in his defence that his case 
was covered by the law of the church, the law of 1816, be- 


9 


cause by the laws of the State of Maryland a legal deed of 
manumission for his slaves could not be effected. The legal 
opinion of emminent jurists was adduced to show the correct- 
ness of his position, but all in vain. Urged on by a spirit 
of religious frenzy, the Conference ignored the law of the 
church, over-rode the declaration of the General Conference, 
made by solemn resolution four years previous, and presumed 
to fix the conditions on which ministerial funetions should 
be exercised in its bounds: a presumption as bold as it was 
unauthorized, and which set at defiance both the law of the 
church, and the authortoative construction put upon that law 
by the General Conference of 1849. Harding appealed f:om 
the action of the Baltimore Conference to the General Con- 
ference, held in New York, in May 1844. The appeal was 
heard; but the spirit cf abolition fananticism had increased 
so largely in the Northern and Western States, that it was 
apparent, as the case was proceeded with, that a majority of 
the delegates were in full sympathy with the abolition cause, 
and that the decision of the Baltimore Conference would be 
sustained by adhereing, not to the law of the church, but “a 
higher law,’ which was now, for the first time, proclaimed 
in her council chambers. The action of the Baltimore 
Conference was confirmed, and Harding suspended from the 
ministry. 

The flood gates had been opened. The Southern delega- 
tions stood and looked aghast on the wildly rushing tide. 
To them no star of hope appeared, the ecclesiastical sky was 
covered with a blackness, their eyes could not pierce. On 
the other hand the fanatical majority, exulting in the triumph 
they had won, resolved to press the matter to the wall.— 
Bishop Andrew, like Harding, had become connected with 
slavery by marriage. The committee on Episcopacy were in- 
structed to enquire into the matter and report back to the 
Conference. They reported by submitting the Bishop’s writ- 
ten statement. A long and painful debate followed, and was 
only ended, after a weeks discussion, by the adoption of the 
following resolution : 


10 


* Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Conference 
that he desist from the exercise of this office so long as this 
impediment remains.” 


The yote stood 111 for, and 69 against the resolution, being 
a majority of 42 in its favor. That resolution forever buried 
whatever of hope the South had indulged that an amicable 
adjustment of the existing difficulties might be reached, and 
the disruption of the church be prevented. No law was 
claimed by the majority for this acticn, it was based on the 
ground of expediency. Butif it were expedient for the North to’ 
take this action, it was more inexpedient for the South to 
submit tu the action had. It threatened the life of the 
church in all of the slaveholding States ; for if they submit- 
ted to the extra judicial proceedings in these cases, then the 
ministry of the church would be regarded with jealousy and 
suspicion at home, a suspicion which would have closed 
againt them the effectual doors opened by their previous 
labors and sufferings to preach the Gospel of Christ in all 
these parts where the institution of slavery existed. To sub- 
mit was to go beyond the declaration of the church which 
affirmed slavery to be a moral evil, and to pronounce it, under 
any circumstances, a sin, it was to violate their conciences, 
and abandon the fruits of the victories already won. For 
this they were not prepared, and separation was inevitable. 

Fortunately at this juncture two men of commanding influ- 
ence came forward to cool the fever heat of the majority, and 
render peaceable at least, the separation about to occur— 
Stephen Olive and J. P. Durbin. By their influence mainly 
a committee of nine was raised, composed of men from both 
sections, to see if the body could be harmonized, and, if not, 
to devise a plan by which the South might be freed from her 
embarrassment. A plan of separation was devised, and agreed 
to. By the terms of that plan the Southern Conferences 
were, if they choosed so to do, to erect themselves into a 
separate jurisdiction; the churches along the border were not 
to be disturbed by emisaries from either side, and the South 
was to share pro rata in the accumulated church funds. 

Under this plan for a peacable separation, the Southern 


11 


division of the church, composed of thirteen Annual Confer- 
ences, did decide on a separation from the Northern portion 
and erected themselves into a separate jurisdiction with the 
title of 


THE M. E. CHURCH SOUTH. 


They adopted the same Articles of Religion, and the same 
Book of Discipline as that formerly set forth, and, freed from 
the dominant majority, who had brought on the trouble in 
which the South had been involved, they set forth with fresh 
zeal to prosecute the mission to which they believed themselves 
called of God, and on which they had first started—‘to 
spread Scriptural holiness over these lands.” Peace was now 
secured, and unusual harmony prevailed throughout the sec- 
tion represented by the Southern Annual Conferences. 

In the North, however, the case was different. Slavery 
was the absorbing topic of the political world. Newspapers, 
magazines, andevery other form of literature was burdened 
with it. Demagogues rode into office upon it as an issue, 
and the action of the General Conference which agreed to a 
plan of separation was denounced as an unworthy concession 
to Southern principles. Those who had the manliness to stand 
by their action were stigmatized as “ Southern sympathizers,” 
and upholders of slavery. Fanaticism had the public ear, 
and sober reason could not be heard, and it is not to be won- 
dered atthat the General Conference of 1848, composed largely 
of the same men who had made expedience a rule of action to 
the dismemberment of the church four years previous, should 
now find it expedient to denounce the solemn agreement con- 
tained in the plan of separation, and compel the church South 
to enter the civil courts for the enforcement of that plan and 
the recovery of her equitable shares of the churches funds. 
Nor is it to be wondered at that the fraternal overtures of the 
Chu-ch South were rejectel and she pronoineced a schism—a 
secession, and themselves the only true M. EK. Church in the 
United States. The furor raised at the time, and the speci- 
ous arguments employed to defend themselves, deceived many 


12 


into the belief, and raised no little prejudice against us both 
at home and abroad. These arguments were used against us 
during the late civil war by scheming demagogues and parti- 
zan churchmen. The M. EK. Church South was charged with 
having by its actions in 1844, opened the way, and set in motion 
the forces which in 1861 culminated in the secession of the 
States, wasting the nations treasures, and drenching the soil 
with her childrens blood; but no one acquainted with the 
facts of history could hesitate to pronounce, without a breach 
of christian charity, any one who should make such an asser- 
tion either a knave, or a fool, either wanting in intelligence, or 
else full of wickedness and deceit. The division of the church, 
according to the plan of separation, was a measure of peace 
devised by the unfanatical for the general good, and that in- 
strument shows with the force of a demonstration that the 
South did no more secede from the North than did the North 
from the South. Indeed, Bishop Morris who adhered to the 
Northern wing of the church at its disruption, more than con- 
ceeds this point in his communication to the Bishops of the 
Church South, dated April 23d, 1869. The letter refered to 
had reference to the reunion of the churches, and as an apology 
for opening a correspondence on the subject he says: “ i is 
fitting that the Methodist Church, (North) which began the dis- 
union, should not be the last to achieve the re-union.”’ Tes- 
timony from so high a source and so emphatic in its charac- 
ter, must carry ecnviction to every unprejndiced mind, and 
forever free the Southern church from the charge of schism 
and secession. 

The dismemberment of the church did not give the high 
results for which some had hoped. Under the plan of sepa- 
ration, as a legal instrument, the South had rest for a season. 
The strong arm of the civil law was stretched out for the pro- 
tection of her rights; but while she sat under her own vine 
and fig tree enjoying the protection given, the fanatics of the 
North were lashing the political sea into a malestrom which 
should paralyze the arm of civil power, or else engulf the na- 
tion. How well they succeeded, let the wasted treasure, des- 
solate homes, and bloody fields of the late civil war declare. 


13 


The war ended disasterously to the Southern cause. Might 
overcame right, and the protection of the law no longer shield- 
ed us from fanatical vengeance. Many of our churches were 
seized by Agents of the M. E. Church, and are held to this 
day without the shadow of a claim, save that contained mil- 
itary orders and the detestable motto: “To the victors be- 
long the spoils.” An army of Afissionaries were enlisted for 
our religious conquest now taat our political body lay bleed- 
ing at their feet. Backed by Northern gold and abolition 
hate this army came with ‘ Disintegration and Absorption” 
blazoned on their colors, and the magic word, Union as their 
ultimatum of peace. Southern men who refused to barter 
their conciences for gold, and valued the smiles of God more 
than they dreaded abolition hate, were pronounced, rebels, 
disloyal, and “enemics to the Government.” Harrassed and 
persecuted, even unto death in some instances, god did not 
forsake us; but plead our cause, and multiplied us to the glory 
of his grace, and the astonishment of men. Her country im- 
poverished—yea, desolated by the armies which for four years 
had pillaged it; her children reduced from affluence to want ; 
the M. E. Church South, had nevertheless the prestige of 
garments unsoiled, and was loved with intenser affection by 
her children. 

~ When the separation occured, the church South mustered 
only 450,000 members, officered by thirteen hundred preach- 
ers. ‘To-day she marshals 750,000 among the sacramental hosts 
of God, officered by 8,841 preaches, after loosing the entire col- 
ored membership in the church. ‘What has God wrought ?” 
And where is he who has labored, or suffered, to bring about 
so glorious a result, and does not feel a satisfaction in his 
toils and privations akin to that of Jesus, when on the cross, 
he saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied. He who 
could wish a higher honor must wait for God to crown him, 


ere he can receive it ? 
™~ 


14 
THE M. E. CHURCH SOUTH; IN NORTH CAROLINA. 


Having said thus much of the general history of the church, 
I now return to trace its spiritual triumphs and progress. 
The first Methodist Societies formed in America were formed 
in 1766, one in New York, the other in Fredrick county, 
Maryland. In March, 1776, the Carolina circut was formed, 
and Francis Poythress, Edward Drumgold, and Isham Latem 
were appointed thereto. Robert Willams, and prehaps 
others, had preached previously as Missionaries in the region 
of the Roanoke; but no regular jappointment was made for 
North Carolina until the period just mentioned, at which 
time the “Carolina Circuit” appeard for the first time on the 
Conference Minutes, with 683 members reported. The very 
name Carolina Circuit is suggestive. A soverign State for a 
parish, and that parish to be served by three men with none 
of the modern conveniences for travel! Broad rivers, deep 
creeks, and almost interminable forests were to be encounter- 
ed, through winter cold and summer heat. A horse and sad- 
dle each was their equipage, a change of linen their ward- 
robe, the Bible, Hymn book and Discipline their library. 
There they stand on the border of their parish, looking across 
the line upon the towering mountains which stretch away be- 
yond them, till the wild range itself is lost in the dim dis- 
tance. Indentations here and there upon the earths surface 
mark the river beds where wild torrents rush toward the sea, 
and whose sources have never yet been fully traced. The 
dark forests are before them covering hill and valley still with 
their primeval growth, and whose intense solitudes are never 
stirred save by the growl of the bear, the bark of the wolf, or 
the still more fearful yell and war-hoop of the Savage. Be- 
yond all these lie the feeble settlements scattered throughout 
the vast domain of a Soverign State, and it is to these they 
have been sent to publish the glad tidings of salvation. They 
draw the reins upon their faithful steeds, stand in their stir- 
rups, and from the elevation they have gained survey the scene. 
Each man sits his horse with a grace that would have done 
honor to the Knights of Chivalry. Home and kindred are far 


15 


behind them, and they are here alone upon their Masters 
business. Their faces glow, their hearts swell with holy emo- 
tion. The voice of Christ rings afresh in their ears: “Go 
ye into all the world.” Go, and “Lo Lam with you always!” 

hey know him to be faithful who hath promised; they catch 
the spirit of their Master and press on repeating as they go: 
“Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may 
finish my cause with joy, and this ministry which I have re- 
ceived of the Lord Jesus.” The friends of all, and everything 
but sin, in the strength of Christ they came. There were no 
churches made ready to their hand. The Societies were but 
few, and these unorganized for active christian effort; but 
stimulated by their zeal, and directed by their wisdom, the 
church came forth from the wilderness “leaning on the arm 
of her Beloved, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and ter- 
rible as an army with banners.” 

In 1784 the work had developed into 10 circuits with 17 
preachers and 3,718 members. 

Previous to February 1837 the church in North Carolina was 
subject to the jurisdiction of three annual Conferences, 
Virgima, South Carolina, and Holston. In 1837 the North 
Carolina Conference was set off from the Virginia, and con- 
tained in its bounds 19,000 members. All the territory in 
North Carolina held by the Viriginia Conference ~ 
was not set off with the North Carolina Conference. 
The Virginia Conference still holds all lying North 
of the Roanoke river from the State line to the ocean. 
The South Carolina Conference held the country along, and 
south, and west, of the Deep and Cape Fear rivers, from the 
sea to the State line ; the Holston Conference holding all the 
counties west of the Blue Ridge. The North Carolina Con- 
ference at the time of its creation in 1837 was confined there- 
fore to a little more than half of the State with about 16,000 
white and 3,000 colored members. At the Conference held in 
Warrenton in 1850, this membership had increased to 27,589. 
In 1851, a part of the North Carolina territory held by the 
South Carolina Conference was transferred to us with about 
8,000 members, the whole number, aggregating at the Con- 


16 


ference of this year 36,111. The next decade, from 1851 to 
1861, showed an increase of but 4,000. In 1856, it rose to a 
total of 41,285; falling in 1858 to 39,767, rising again in 1861 
to 40,996, and falling in 1862 to 39,750. From 1860 to 1865, 
the church numerically about held her own, reporting in 1860, 
28,958 white members, and in 1865, 28,168. This period cov- 
ered that of the civil war, a war which for its magnitude and 
length is unparalelled in modern times. While, there- 
fore, there is a small decrease in numbers, and on that account 
a seeming loss of aggressive power, if we consider the circum- 
stances by which the church was surrounded, the difficulties 
with which she had to contend, we shall have cause for de- 
vout thankfulness to God that her ranks were not depleted 
more than they were, and that the church came forth from 
the terrible conflict as strong as she went in. 

At the Conference of 1870, there was an increase reported 
of 13,000, 10,000 or more, of this number being added by the 
_ transfer of the Charlotte and Shelby Districts from the Scuth 
Carolina Conference. This addition brought up our member- 
ship in this Conference from 33,310, to 46,252. Since that 
date we have had annual net increase of over 2,000 a year, the 
fieures now standing at 54,592. 

Large as these figures are it must be borne in mind that this 
~ estima‘e does not include the membership of the Methodist 
Church in twenty-five counties of the State. Ten of these 
counties, viz: Northampton, Bertie, Hertford, Chowan, Gates, 
Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck and Davie are 
in the jurisdiction of the Virginia Conference; and, Ashe, 
Watauga, Yancey, Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, Haywood, 
Jackson, Macon, Cherakee,Clay, Transylvania, Swain, Mitchell, 
Alleghany and Graham, in the Holston Conference. Leaving 
out these twenty-five counties, which are under the control 
of other Conferences, we have in the North Carolina Confer- 
ence alone, 129 pastoral charges, served by 142 ministers of 
the traveling connection, and 221 local preachers. We have 
708 church edifices valued at $700,000, and 54 parsonages 
valued at $76,100. We have one male andtwo female colleges 
under the Conference control, and belonging to the church. 


17 


By the usual mode of computation more than half the while 
population of the State over ten years old attend our services, 
and if we add to the figures already given, as we might legiti- 
mately do, the colored Methodists“of the State who are the 
fruits of our labors, the whole number would not fall far short 
of 125,000 souls! 

The prosperity of our beloved»church will appear more 
conspiciously to ourselves, and others, if we compare ourselves 
with the three Denominations which have labored in the 
same field with us during the century just gone. The P. E. 
Church as the Established Church of England was here, with 
all the prestige of the State to support it, long years before 
the establishment of a Methodist Society in its limits. The 
Presbyterian and Baptist Churches were operating here a 
eentury before us, and the nearest approximation that can 
now be made gives to the P. E. Church 4,000 communicants, 
the Presbyterian 15,000, and the Baptists 80,000. With pro- 
found humility and devout thanksgiving to God, the giver of 
all spiritual success, we may be permitted to say that we have 
not only distanced, but left entirely out of sight, all but one 
who have run in the race with us for enlargement and spirit- 
ual power in the earth; and we have done this while feeding 
from year to year these Denominations which have competed 
with us. 

Standing here to-day and looking back through the century 
just closed we may well exclaim in pious joy: See, what God 
hath wrought! A hundred years ago North Carolina was one 
pastoral charge, with three preachers to supply the work, 
bounded only by the limits of a Sovereign State whose terri- 
tory was nearly as great as that of all England. To-day the 
spires of our churches rise from every county of the State; 
our pastoral charges are more numerous by half than the 
counties in her limits, and in our Conference alone there are 
ministers enough to offer sacrifice at our alter each day 
throughout the year, if none officiated more than once within 
the time. The membership of our church in this State is 
more than double that of the entire M. E. Church one hun- 
dred years ago, and notwithstanding the heavy draft upon us 


18 


by emigrations to the West and South, we have kept pace 
with the foremost Conferences of our connection. Edward 
Wadsworth, A. S. Andrews, C. F. Deems, and J. E. Edwards, 
are names, among the living, familiar as household words 
throughout the Southern Church, and these are North Caro- 
lina’s gift to the world and church of God. Among the dead 
the names of H. G. Lee, Moses Brock, Peter Doub, Wm. 
Barringer and N. F. Reid shine as stars of the first magni- 
tude in a sky litterally studded with orbs of the greatest byil- 
liancy. God has buried his workmen here as well as else- 
where, but in his mercy he has supplied the places of those he 
has taken. The holy flame of evangelism never burned with 
a steadier flame or brighter glow than now upon our alters, 
and God is setting the seal of heaven on the commissions of 
our ministers as chosen of him to sound the honors of his 
name, and “spread scriptural holiness over all these lands.” 
At the present rate of increase, in North Carolina alone, the 
army of God mustered under the banners of Methodism in 
1976, will number more than 250,000 souls, which is more 
than one-fourth of the entire membership of the M. E. 
Church, South, at the present time. Indeed, we have cause 
for joy and thanksgiving! 

But, what is the cause of this remarkable prosperity ? Why 
has Methodism outstripped the churches which were here 
before her, and have labored side by side with her since her 
coming ? 

This prosperity is not attributable to any one, but to a 
number of causes, prominent among which are the following : 

1. Clear and concise statement of Scripture Doctrine. Method- 
ism appeared in the religious world with no new revelation 
from God to support her claims and establish her authority. 
She came among men with an open Bible in her hand and a 
rich experience of its blessed promises in her heart. If her 
doctrines were strange, they were pointedly—sharply defined, 
and to the only acknowledged and infallible rule of faith, 
she confidently appealed for their maintainance. Justifica- 
tion by faith without the deeds of the law, the regeneration 
of the soul by power of the Holy Ghost, by which we are born 


19 


into a new life of faith and love; the witness of the Spirit to 
the fact of the forgiveness of sinners and our adoption as 
members of the Divine family, and sanctification here as in- 
dispensable to heaven hereafter, these were the themes of her 
preachers who went every where cfying : “Repent or you'll 
perish ; believe or you'll be damned.” To be sure these 
great doctrines of the Bible were taught in the standards of 
churches already existing, but they had slept till their exist- 
ance was scarely known, han religion had become a matter of 
form instead of life—a body without a soul to animate it. It 
was the mission of Methodism to inspire this dead body with 
spiritual life, and bring to a world blind in unbelief, a revela- 
tion of their awful state and glorious privileges. Heaven 
and hell, in her theology were no mythological worlds, whose 
existence were matters for doubt or Spbeulamen but real ver- 
ities to be speadily realized by the children of men. She had 
a divine conviction of the things unseen, and came to impress 
that conviction on the world, and right nobly did she do it! 
Infidels listenning to her burning appeals were startled from 
their fancied security, Lords were made to feel their obliga- 
tion to the Lord of all, and the poor colliers of Kingswood 
washed the coal dust from their faces with the penetential 
tears they shed, while she enforced the doctrines of righteous- 
ness and a Judgment to come. In her experience christiani- 
ty was a blessed and living fact. It was not only a system of 
truths to be believed but a new, conscious, and joyous life, to 
be realized by those who embraced it, and therefore while 
others were employed in discoursing of “mint, anise, and 
cumin,’ she gave herself to the weighter matters of the 
law. To her testimony concerning the religious duty and 
privileges of men the Holy Ghost gave witness comprising 
it by signs following. 

2. A universal atonement, and the possibility of its immediate 
application to meet the wants of every penitent sinner, was a car- 
dinal point in her faith, and prominent in her teachings. The 
theory of redemption held by Augustine, afterwards 
embraced and defended by Calvin at the Reformation, was 
the faith of the church, as that faith found expression in her 


20 


creeds and confessions. This theory was that of a limited 
atonement, the saving efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice being limi- 
ted to a part of the human race, and the remnant left, with- 
out a possibility of salvation, to perish in their sins. 

Methodism adopted the American theory, and proclaimed 
a possible salvation for all men. The Bible affirmed that 
“Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,” 
that ‘‘God sent his Son into the world, that the world 
through him might be saved;” that “where sin abounded, grace 
did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, 
even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eter- 
nal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord;” and that “ whosoever 
will, may come and take the water of life freely.” Believe- 
ing Christ to be “the light which enlighteneth every man 
that cometh into the world,’ and that a sufficiency of this 
light was given to every man to find his way to the cross, she 
commanded. all men, everywhere to repent, and had the sat- 
isfaction of seeing “the pleasure of the Lord prospering in 
her hands.’ Multitudes everywhere turning to God, and 
like the Phillipian jailor receiving the remission of their sins 
in the hour they were awakened. 

3. Her polity. She adopted a flexible system of church 
government. Discarding the iron bands of ecclesiasticism, 
which had trameled existing churches, she arrayed herself in 
a habit, which, if not admired by those who were incapable 
of appreciating anything which did nof look antiquated, 
nevertheless had the merit of convenience, and left its wearer 
a freedom of action which more than compensated for what- 
ever she lost by the departure she made. Planting herself on 
the broad principle of liberty in all the non-essentials of 
christianity she has been ready to adopt any costume, which 
promised more of ease, or grace, to herself, or to make her 
more attractive to those for whose benefit she labors. Time 
has not wrinkled our mothers cheeks, nor has weakness and 
lassitude ensued from the tight lacings of ecclesiasticism ; 
but, while others from these causes, have languished in the 
spiritual parlors as confined invalids, only able to receive and 
entertain those who have sought their society. Methodism 


in her neat and simple attire has | gone forth with tlooniing 
cheek and elastic step, to captivate the hearts of men, and, 
through her communion lead them to the cross, and onward 
to an eternal salvation. ‘ es << 
CONCLUSINWe 
hy. 

A mustard seed was droped in the earth by the hand of 
W esley. Small, indeed, was its beginnings, so small that the 
larger trees dispised its growth as its tiny stem broke its way 
through the earth to take its place in the'garden of the Lord, 
and as a tree of His planting. 

One hundred years ago the handful of heavenly corn drop- 
ed here by Methodistic influence required only three laborers 
for its cultivation ; but how has the acreage of God’s farm 
increased! Field after field has been added until the borders 
of our Zion are as extensive as the boundaries of the State. 
Not only the fertile valleys, but the mountain tops are under 
tillage, and every year an increasing harvest makes heaven 
and earth sing together forjoy. ‘The wilderness and the soli- 
tary places have been made giad for them, and the desert has 
rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. In thousands of places 
where only noxious weeds and pestilential vapors sprang, now 
the fair flowers of virture grow and spread their fragrance 
round. 

The acorn has developed into a giant oak: the mustard 
seed into a mighty tree. From North to South, from East to 
West its arms are stretched touching the Northern lakes and 
the towers of Montazuma’s palace in the one dicrection, and 
sporting with the waves of the Atlantic or catching the spray 
of the Pacific in the other. 

In China, Brazil and Mexico our missionaries are intrench- 
ed, battling heroically for the salvation of souls in those dis- 
tant lands ; and in every direction the churches chords are 
lengthening. 

Taking the success of the past as the surest data on which 
to predicate hope for the future, may we not justly anticipate 
a success, Which because of its gloricus achievements; shall 


22 


make Methodism even a greater marvel to coming genera- | 
tions than she is to the present.. Indeed, standing as we do 
to-day on the eminence piled by a century of years, it needs | 
no gift of prophetic ken to see much of the glory which is to | 
follow. We may not see her’ Dragon-like, swallowing up the | 
denominations about he feeding her own veins with the | 
blood drawn from others, but what is better we see her re- | 
cruiting their ranks with thousands of consecrated souls, | 
keeping alive the fire of God in their midst, sustaining herself 
while strengthening them, and at last “through scorn of men | 
and rage of hell,” planting the banner of the cross on the last | 
entrenchment of hell, while angels and saints together shout | 
over a world redeemed, “The tabernacle of God is with men, 
and He shall reign among them !”’ 


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ERRATA. 


Page 10, line 28, for Stephen Olive, read Stephen Olin, 


8, for cause, read course, 
27, for Davie, read Dare, 
31, for comprising, read confirming, 
5, for American, read Arminian, 
37, for confined, read confirmed. 


22 


make Methodism even a greater marvel to coming genera- 
tions than she is to the present.. Indeed, standing as we do 
to-day on the eminence piled by a century of years, it needs 
no gift of prophetic kén to see much of the glory which is to 
follow. We may not see her’ Dragon-like, swallowing up the 
denominations about he feeding her own veins with the 
blood drawn from others, but what is better we see her re- 
cruiting their ranks with thousands of consecrated souls. 


